1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a water conservation system, in which waste water from bath tubs, sinks, washing machines or rain water and the like is used for flushing toilets. In particular, the invention relates to a novel valve combination in a toilet tank.
2. Description of the Related Art
Several systems for limiting fresh water usage by utilizing waste water for flushing toilets have been presented in the prior art. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,318,449 to Jennings et al. (Water Re-use System); U.S. Pat. No. 4,162,218 to McCormick (Water Reuse System); U.S. Pat. No. 4,197,597 to Toms (Water Recycling with Solids and Foam Removal); U.S. Pat. No. 4,349,436 to Kaump (Grate and Water Recovery System); U.S. Pat. No. 4,358,864 to Medrano (Combination Wash Basin and Toilet Conservation System); U.S. Pat. No. 4,438,536 to Rivera (High Pressure toilet Water Feeder Conservation Tank); U.S. Pat. No. 4,924,536 to Houghton (System of Conserving Water in a Building); U.S. Pat. No. 3,112,497 to Call (Water Conservation System); and U.S. Pat. No. 3,995,327 to Hendrick (Water Saving Toilet Arrangement). Various conservation systems have also been proposed in Europe as shown for instance by European patent application 0 427 213 A1 to N. Schlegel et al., or German published, non-prosecuted applications Nos. 22 11 620 to W. Bech and 34 34 267 to A. Gebert.
Most of the prior art devices require substantial alterations in a conventional toilet system, such as an entirely new toilet tank, additional pumps, several additional water pipes and valves, and/or several additional storage tanks. In other words, the conversion of a conventional, already installed system to a prior art water conservation and reuse system required substantial modifications.
It is accordingly an object of the invention to provide a water conservation system, which overcomes the hereinaforementioned disadvantages of the heretofore-known devices of this general type and which is simple to install, requires only a limited amount of additional piping, which is fully automatic and does not require additional maintenance.